Carole [INSERT LAST NAME HERE] enters election Kinky-style.

Strayhorn to run for governor as independent

AUSTIN — Declaring that "it's time to shake Austin up," Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn announced Monday she'll run for governor as an independent, abandoning the Republican primary for a direct shot at the state's top job in November.

Her decision, announced hours before the candidate-filing deadline, requires Strayhorn to earn a ballot spot by gathering more than 45,000 signatures from people who don't vote in the GOP or Democratic primaries and don't sign a petition for independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman.

Asked why she thinks she can win, Strayhorn said, "Tough times might just need one tough grandma to shake Austin up," a reference to her self-description.

Perry, she said, "has so politically fractured this state that the only way we're going to get anything done is to have independent leadership."

This is great, assuming she gets on the ballot, which, as referenced above, is no small feat. I think it will be easier for Kinky to get the signatures than for Strayhorn. She'll have to tell her supporters not to vote in their local Repub primaries, whereas Kinky supporters probably have less history of primary voting.

This is good news, because 1) it clearly hurts Perry, and 2) it indicates a moderate will continue to have a hard time in R statewide primaries in Texas, which hopefully indicates that if the Ds get our shit togther maybe we can knock one off.

I think this helps Kinky, by splitting the vote and making it more of a free for all. More of a circus. Kinky makes the best ringmaster, which increasingly is what the governor is: an essentially powerless showman wielding a wand surrounded by the wild beasts of state government that dance for the audience while shitting all over the floor and then leave town.

How does this affect Bell? You could argue that true independents looking for a responsible non-Perry choice go with Strayhorn now, which hurts Bell. She's a much better candidate who has won statewide. You could also argue that she splits the R vote and Bell runs away with the Ds. Or, I'm afraid most likely, he just gets lost in the shuffle.